Because of Mitchie
by MeridaFaeScott
Summary: Naitlyn oneshot. Camp Rock, a thunderstorm, Mitchie bugging Caitlyn, and an accidental compliment leads to an unexpected turnout. but Caitlyn isn't complaining!
1. Chapter 1

**Hey, all! I went a little berserk and decided to write a Naitlyn story. I've decided that this pairing isn't all **_**that **_**bad since I like both characters a lot…I know this pairing is really popular-right up there with Smitchie (which I still loathe XD). Hope everyone enjoys it! Please review!**

Caitlyn pulled the blanket tighter around her at the sound of the thunder. The cabin was empty except for her and she was enjoying the time alone and the storm outside. The pouring down rain seemed to make the small cabin cozy.

Someone knocked on the door and she sighed in impatience before sitting her book down, pages open to save her place. All she had planned was a peaceful evening to herself to read and relax.

"Nate?" she spoke in surprise, ignoring the annoying fluttering in her chest. Nate Gray stood there soaked, his curls drooping with the weight of the hard rain. Caitlyn couldn't understand why she liked the way the water streamed down his face. Picture perfect.

"Uh, maybe I can come in?" Nate chuckled, breaking her from her trance as a blush crept to her cheeks as she stepped aside. For a moment they only stood looking at each other.

"Did you get stuck in the rain?" Caitlyn blurted out just to end the awkward silence. As if she wanted a reason for him to be there-she was just glad to have him around.

"Yeah." Nate flashed a grin, making her bite her lip in nervousness. When he smiled like that, it took a lot to convince herself not to just kiss him right there and then. Caitlyn watched silently as he ran a hand through his wet hair, making his messy hair even more disorderly.

"Do you like rain?" she always asked questions or babbled when she was nervous-something that Caitlyn was sure made her sound dumb. He looked at her curiously for a moment at her random query before answering.

"Love it." He shrugged, "but I got cold and our cabin's, you know, the farthest one from here." Nate laughed. Caitlyn managed a smile at his laugh, liking the sound of it. Which seemed strange, but she couldn't help it.

"So…what do you wanna do?" Caitlyn asked awkwardly after another short silence that made her uncomfortable-or more so. The thunder rumbled just over head, making her smile slightly.

"Well, I-" he began, but she cut him off before he could finish.

"Oh, do you want a towel do dry your hair off?" she offered, just now remembering that he was soaking wet. Caitlyn felt warm at his chuckle, "Sorry." She smiled.

"Sure, thanks." Nate took the hand towel she offered him a moment later, his fingers brushing against hers. Caitlyn jerked her hand away, noting the tingling shoot up her arm, "This mop of hair can really be a pain." He grinned.

"Maybe, but I love your curls." Caitlyn said softly with a smile. It took a moment and Nate's wide-eyed look for her to realize what she had said aloud. Her hand quickly covered her mouth a moment before she managed to speak, "I-I mean…"

"So where're your cabin buddies?" Nate spoke up at her unfinished sentence, tossing the towel aside. Caitlyn felt her head spin at the sudden subject change and over flow of emotions for a moment. She took a deep breath to calm her racing heart as she sat on her bed.

"They're…all out with friends, I think." She mumbled. Nate nodded and took a seat next to her after a moment, neither exactly sure where to take the conversation now. Both remained silent, sinking into their own thoughts.

"Thanks." Nate spoke a moment later, making Caitlyn raise her eyebrows in question. He went on to explain, "For letting me take cover here," he grinned before going on, "And for the, uh, compliment."

"Oh, that." Caitlyn waved her hand in the air, nonchalantly. Cheeks turning a dark shade of pink at his words, she tried to form a question that would veer their conversation elsewhere. No distraction was needed though, for Mitchie and a couple other girls stomped into the cabin at that moment, dripping wet and grumbling about the storm.

"Hey, Nate." Mitchie waved to him and he smiled with a friendly greeting. Caitlyn shoved the jealousy away. Sheesh. All he had to do was acknowledged another girl's presence and it made her envious.

"I guess I should get to my own cabin." Nate shrugged before standing, smiling to Caitlyn, "Thanks for rescuing me from drowning or hypothermia."

"Um, sure." She muttered, walking with him to the door, "You don't have to go though." Oh, how she wanted to kick herself at the words. There was so much he could gather from that statement.

With a strange look, Nate replied, "Thanks…but I'll be okay."

"Okay, well, bye then." Caitlyn stuttered, attempting a smile, "See you later, I guess." He nodded and opened the door, letting in a gust of cool air along with some hard rain, then the door was shut and he was gone.

"You should just ask him out." Caitlyn turned with a scowl at whoever had spoken. Mitchie was grinning at her.

"I'm sorry?" Caitlyn said softly, hoping Mitchie didn't just say what she thought. Mitchie's unbelievably large mouth became an even larger smile.

"You should go ahead and ask him out." She repeated, "He's totally hot and it's pretty obvious you like him."

"Whatever." Caitlyn rolled her eyes and laid on her bed, starring at the ceiling. Mitchie didn't go away. Sometimes the brunette could be the most annoying person on the earth. The two weren't really friends. Caitlyn had trouble trusting Mitchie after the big lie last year, and Mitchie didn't seem to have changed much- always trying to impress.

"If you don't, I will." Mitchie commented. Caitlyn felt herself tense at the words, and she itched to land her fist in the girl's face. She tried to relax assuring herself that Mitchie was just kidding.

A glance at the brunette standing over her proved how wrong she was. Mitchie's grin was gone and her eyebrows were raised in waiting for Caitlyn's reply. She wouldn't, would she? Caitlyn debated for a moment.

"Yeah, whatever." Caitlyn scoffed.

"I will." Mitchie stated firmly, "I'm not kidding. I've been trying to be nice and wait to give you a chance to ask him, but I'm not waiting anymore. I'll ask him tomorrow."

"Don't you know the guy is supposed to ask the girl?" Caitlyn tossed bitterly at Mitchie, "Don't you have any tact?"

"That's so old fashioned." Mitchie rolled her eyes before walking away to talk with the other girls in the cabin.

"I'm out of here." Caitlyn mumbled a moment later, tired of her cabin mates' giggling and talking about nothing but guys all the time. The rain beat down on her as she walked, but she only quickened her pace, knowing subconsciously where she was headed.

A moment later, Caitlyn had fallen into step next to Nate, staring at his red converses until his walking stopped. Her eyes traveled up to his face slowly, and she had to fight to keep back a wince. This was so stupid.

"Are you, uh, stalking me or something?" Nate chuckled, to which she shook her head. How was one to go about voicing the feelings she had for him?

"Would you go out with Mitchie if she asked you?" Caitlyn blurted out. Great. Now who was the tactless one? But surely he was used to her random questions by now and wouldn't think anything of it…right?

Nate looked taken aback a moment, and they both became ignorant of the rain streaming down their faces and dripping from their hair. After an unusually loud crash of thunder, he spoke up, "Maybe."

Caitlyn felt like someone was squeezing her heart unbearably tightly-and it hurt. Now what was she suppose to say to him? If he considered dating Mitchie he couldn't really be interested in a girl like Caitlyn, could he? They were so different.

"Why?" Nate inquired curiously, waking Caitlyn from her deeply negative thoughts. She sighed.

"Just wondering." She replied. And awkward silence fell. "I guess I'll head back."

"I don't think so." Nate surprised her by grabbing hold of her arm gently, "You don't hunt me down in the middle of a thunderstorm to ask me something like that and just leave. There's got to be more to it."

"Or maybe you're just hoping there's more to it." Caitlyn stated.

"Or maybe there is more to it-you just don't want to tell me." Nate shot back.

"Or maybe you're reading into the question too much." She replied, both of them had on blank expressions.

"Or maybe you-" he began.

"Oh, quit the stupid 'Or maybe's already!" Caitlyn's impatience shined through as she demanded this and dug one of her heels into the muddy ground to keep from immaturely stomping her foot.

"_Is_ there more to it?" Nate asked softly after a moment. Caitlyn sighed, groaning inwardly before shoving a sopping strand of hair from her face. She met his eyes with a guarded look.

"Yes."

He blinked. "Well, are you going to tell me what?" Nate looked slightly amused. Caitlyn shook her head, watching a rain drop drip off of Nate's eyelash and run down his cheek. "Please?" he offered, in the softest tone that could be used during the storm.

"You'll figure it out sooner or later." Caitlyn mumbled.

"I think I already did." Nate commented softly, making her heart rate increase considerably. She knew he would at some point.

"Then why are you asking?" Caitlyn huffed, starring at his face but unable to meet his eyes.

"Because I want you to say it."

"I'm _not_ going to say it." Caitlyn said firmly in a tone that showed there would be no arguing. Nate sighed but rested a hand on her arm a moment as she finally was able to meet his eyes.

"Then you'll just have to show it." Nate pointed out. Caitlyn only a had a moment to notice that he was blushing before his arm slipped around her thin waist and pulled her against his chest.

His lips pressed against her lightly, and Caitlyn shyly wrapped her arms around his neck in response. If she was dreaming, no one had better wake her up. There was no way she was going to be interrupted.

"Now what's this about me dating Mitchie?" Nate asked as they parted reluctantly.

"She wants to ask you out." Caitlyn breathed with a small smile, a hint of uncertainty at the words. What if Nate, hearing this, would choose Mitchie over her? All doubts and worries were dismissed at his next words.

"But I'm taken." He whispered, "At least, I hope…?" Caitlyn couldn't contain the grin that spread over her face at these words.

"I can't wait to see her reaction tomorrow when she asks you." She sighed as he rested his forehead against hers, "Because I'm not going to tell her."

**Let me know what you think! Although this is a oneshot so I can't demand a certain number of reviews or no update (which I never do anyways), I would really like to know your opinion-even constructive criticism would be appreciated! Thanks for reading!**


	2. Chapter 2

**I couple people mentioned wanting to see Mitchie's reaction, so I wrote a short follow up story for "Because of Mitchie". Hope you all like it! Please review!**

Caitlyn impatiently and somewhat nervously crossed her arms over her chest watching Nate from a distance. He didn't look her way at all, and this fact alone made her irritable. What if something went wrong? What if he changed his mind?

She absently picked at the chipped paint on the picnic table she was seated at, wondering if Mitchie would show up soon. In some ways, she just wanted this over with, but in other ways it would be interesting to see Mitchie's reaction.

Her stomach did some sort of flip flop when Mitchie appeared on the camp path. The brunette tossed a small smile at Nate casually leaning against a building listening to his Ipod. Caitlyn was caught off guard when Mitchie passed him and approached her instead. She quickly set her eyes on the magazine before her that she was supposed to be pretending to read.

"Hey, Caitlyn." Mitchie placed her hands on the picnic table with a friendly smile. Caitlyn raised her eyes to Mitchie's face and attempted a smile before saying a simple "hi".

"Did you ask Nate out?" Mitchie asked bluntly, still looking quite cheerful. At this, Caitlyn actually had to fight _not_ to smile as she slowly shook her head and gave the honest answer.

Mitchie sighed slightly and looked down at the table thoughtfully for a moment, and she tapped the wood a couple times, "I meant what I said, Caitlyn. I'm not going to wait around for you to get the nerve…"

"I'm never going to have the nerve, Mitchie." Caitlyn spoke softly, doing her best to keep a straight face.

"I hate to do this to you." Mitchie frowned slightly, "but if you're not planning on asking him…" Caitlyn only kept a steady gaze and Mitchie half shrugged with a pitying look and turned to walk Nate's way.

With a pounding heart, Caitlyn watched with wide eyes as she walked over to Nate casually with that big smile. Politely, he took out his earbuds and greeted her and Caitlyn wished she was close enough to hear the conversation.

She watched without blinking as Mitchie said a few things to which Nate replied friendly, but Caitlyn was too far to hear. For a moment the two just stood as if waiting for the other to speak, but Mitchie soon began talking again.

With a feeling of dread and worry, Caitlyn looked on, gripping the magazine in front of her much tighter then necessary. Finally, a small frown appeared on Nate's face and he shook his head slightly, making Mitchie stop talking and look at him worriedly.

"I'm sorry, but no thanks." Caitlyn could read Nate's lips and bit her lip to keep from grinning. For a moment, Mitchie only stood in what would appear to be shock before taking a small step backward. She then spun on her heel and walked off quickly, looking completely confused.

"C'mon," Caitlyn turned her gaze from the disappearing Mitchie toward Nate's brown eyes as he smiled down at her, "Let's go for a walk."

Flashing a large smile as she stood up, Caitlyn laced her fingers with his when he took her hand. They walked in silence for a few moments before Nate spoke up thoughtfully, "She looked like she couldn't believe it."

"Yeah…It's great that she has confidence in herself now…but maybe she has just a teensy bit too much?" Caitlyn thought aloud, feeling badly for Mitchie. It seemed like Mitchie just couldn't find the balance between self confidence and slight arrogance.

"I mean, really?" Nate began, "Me with Mitchie? Seriously?" Caitlyn laughed at his words, knowing exactly what he meant. They would just make a strange couple. Very strange.

"Never." Caitlyn stated, pulling his hand so Nate would stop in his tracks and turn to her. She looked solemnly into his eyes, happiness seeming to overflow inside of her and she sighed contentedly.

"Never." Nate breathed in agreement, caught in Caitlyn's gaze also. After a moment he bent down slightly to press his lips onto hers in a gentle but loving kiss. Smiling at her blushing, Nate went on after a moment, "Me with Mitchie? Hah! What's next? Shane with Mitchie?" At this strange and ridiculous statement, they both laughed.


End file.
